Howard Rockerduck
Howard Rockerduck (former Italian name Pykerdock) was a duck from the Duck universe. Description and biography Himself a millionaire, Howard was John D. Rockerduck's father. Italian continuity Howard Rockerduck made is debut appearance in 1970 in Zio Paperone e l'oro del Klondike, written by Guido Martina and drawn by Romano Scarpa. There, he is featured under the name of Pykerdock. This story depicts Fergus McDuck as having been a prospector in the Klondike even before Scrooge, and so is Pykerdock, who attempts to get revenge on Fergus in Dawson for Fergus's father having robbed Pykerdock's own father Pokerdyck. Hijinxes naturally ensues, at the end of which Fergus comes out on top. Pykerdock, sent to a hospital, meets a lovely nurse with whom he quickly falls in love. The two eventually have a son, Rockerduck, who even as a baby begins to show signs of antipathy towards the equally young son of Fergus. Don Rosa's reboot Rockerduck's father would not appear until 1990 and Don Rosa's Of Ducks, Dimes and Destinies, where he is shown as an anonymous american bearded millionaire who travels to Glasgow. He is depicted as much kinder than his Italian counterpart, and said to have become rich in the 1849 California Gold Rush, just like Scrooge did in the 1896 Yukon Gold Rush. Howard still cares for the poor as a result of remembering having been one once, and is the one who accidentally gives his "lucky" Number One Dime to the young Scrooge. Howard is back in Don Rosa's story Raider of the Copper Hill, where he gets his formal introduction with a now young adult Scrooge McDuck, and said to actually be named Howard. Between the events of Dimes and Destinies and those of Copper Hill, Howard has gotten married to a proud and bitter upper class woman (which he deeply regrets), and has had a son, John (who is thus depicted as younger than Scrooge by about 10 years, contrary to Guido Martina and Romano Scarpa's verison of these events). Howard semi-consciously regrets his days of poverty, when everyone was his friend, and has become bitter and cynical about the condition of the rich man (who has "the respect of everyone, and the friendship of no one"). Seeing in Scrooge McDuck the duck he himself once was, he helps him (even though it makes him loose a great amount of money) get his hand on a copper mine, and then advises him to make the right decision once he's rich — go back to Scotland to his family. Howard would not appear again, but a nod is made to him in Don Rosa's The Billionaire of Dismal Downs, ''where Scrooge, now the titular "billionnaire", wears an exact copy of Howard's clothes when he arrives to Scotland, and is met by the same popular indifference than Howard previously said he was experiencing, implying that Scrooge is slowly going down the same path that Howard did. Howard is also one of the only Disney characters clearly implied to be dead by the time of the present day stories (aside from some villains), as John D. Rockerduck became a billionnaire by inheriting all of Howard's money. Trivia *Probably coincidentally, Howard looks just like Angus McDuck, except that he's got white hair while Angus is bald. *Don Rosa once mistakenly referred to Howard as "Walter Rockerduck" in an interview. This has sometimes been taken as a hint that Howad's full name is Howard W. Rockerduck. *Howard Rockerduck's first name 'Howard' is a homage to Don Rosa's favorite adventure movie, ''The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which features an old prospecting mentor to the hero called Howard. el:Χάουαρντ Ρόμπαξ fr:Howard Flairsou it:Howard Rockerduck Category:Ducks Category:Fathers Category:Characters Category:Males Category:American characters Category:Rockerduck family